US shuts Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Washington office

The Palestinian envoy to Washington says his staffers have been given a month to pack up after the Trump administration ordered the Palestine Liberation Organisation mission closed.

Husam Zomlot told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the closure would not deter Palestinians from seeking a state with east Jerusalem as the capital.

US national security adviser John Bolton said Monday that the mission was being shut because the PLO, in his words, had not taken steps toward negotiations with Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted ties with the Donald Trump administration in December after the US recognised contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Zomlot was called home by Abbas in the spring as part of the crisis.

Zomlot said “we lost the US administration but we gained our national rights”.